victoria3 wrote:Nice set up for your special new pot. Cork pad is a nice idea. Does the oolong taste different brewed in this clay?

Inspired by 茶藝-TeaArt08, I have tried my very best high mountain oolong in one of the gorgeous unglazed little kyusus I have from Andrzej and have found that the tea was more fully flavoured and lasted for many more infusions than in any other teapot (glazed or unglazed) that I brewed the tea in previously. Superb match!

victoria3 wrote:Nice set up for your special new pot. Cork pad is a nice idea. Does the oolong taste different brewed in this clay?

Inspired by 茶藝-TeaArt08, I have tried my very best high mountain oolong in one of the gorgeous unglazed little kyusus I have from Andrzej and have found that the tea was more fully flavoured and lasted for many more infusions than in any other teapot (glazed or unglazed) that I brewed the tea in previously. Superb match!

Victoria,

Yes, it really does; it was very surprising how much so. I am blessed to have very nice teapots in our home and this pot outperformed my other pots by far, except for one stone pot, made from Taiwan stone, that brews as well with different results.

NPE,

Wow! That's exciting to hear. Was the wulong you brewed greener or a bit more oxidized?

I thought of you today as I brewed for the second time in the Bero pot. It did not disappoint. I first brewed a Qi Lai Shan wulong (起來山) in the pot and it performed well. The Qi Lai Shan is a lighter, more green wulong. I purposely brewed it with fewer grams than normal of leaf to see how it would perform. I had nice balanced rounds, very even, floral, subtle, and good. Then I poured the more amber high mt. Taiwan wulong (oxidized around 15% or so) and it was amazing. Better than the first time. I was reduced to incoherent slurps and and "ahs"...it was great.

TeaArt08 & NPE thanks for your replies. I'm beginning to get into high mountain oolongs and so far have only brewed in glazed or glass vessels. I am curious do your unglazed pots have any smell of clay or as someone else mentioned rock? Also, if you leave just water in the teapot overnight does the taste of water change? I assume there must be minerals in the clay...

victoria3 wrote:TeaArt08 & NPE thanks for your replies. I'm beginning to get into high mountain oolongs and so far have only brewed in glazed or glass vessels. I am curious do your unglazed pots have any smell of clay or as someone else mentioned rock? Also, if you leave just water in the teapot overnight does the taste of water change? I assume there must be minerals in the clay...

Victoria,

Greetings!

Yes...definitely minerals in the clay: The other night I pulled out four pots, poured 95 deg.C water into each pot and then poured this water into porcelain cups to taste the water from each pot, the flavor of the clay. The differences in taste, to me, are noticable. The Hojo tea kyusu (Shimizu Ken Sado Red Clay Reduction Fired pot) had a distinctly different scent than Andrzej Bero's small pot. Both of these pots differed distinctly from the Hongni and the Pingni pot I also tested. Each had a really different flavor.

After emptying the water from the pots, each pot had a distinct smell. Though none of them had a muddy or unpleasant smell. The Shimizu Ken kyusu has a distinct scent that I understand internally but don't know how to relate in words (soft/bland/stone?). Andrzej's pot had a very fresh/light scent, not as earthy as the Shimizu Ken kyusu. The Hongni pot had an almost earthy/spicy scent and that could be due to it formerly being in my father-in-law's office in Taiwan. (the smell reminds me of his office ). The Pingni pot was richer than the Hongni pot.

I haven't left water in the clay pots overnight. Though I am open to trying it and reporting back. I have left, as a test, the same water in a silver pot, iron tetsubin, and a stainless Bonavita pot for 24 hours and each water tastes drastically different. I have then poured these waters into different cups to taste the difference of each water in different cups. I have two silver pots that I sometimes brew with and one iron tetsubin that I brew water with, as well as a glazed ceramic (Japanese style) pot, but primarily brew water in my Bonavita stainless pot. I'd like to get a Lin's clay pot, possibly Purion, which really affects the water, to brew in as well.

TeaArt08 & NPE, thanks for your replies and for testing your pots with water, much appreciated. Now that I am beginning to explore oolongs I'm also getting ready to see how clay interacts with this tea. I'm waiting for a Hojo tokoname red clay pot and also posted some time ago about two chinese smelly pots I got at auction last year. They had a really musty earthy clay smell that turned me off, both dry and after boiling water sat in them overnight. I thought maybe they had been stored a long time and possibly got musty so decided to just let them air out for these many months. Voila, now they have are scent that is less offensive, although the red clay one still changes the taste of water left overnight, so I'm letting it air some more before using.

I have compared three teapots in how they influence the taste of the water: a Yixing from EoT, a bizen-esque from Petr Novak and the unglazed little kyusu from Andrzej Bero.
1st round of comparison: the smell of the hot water when filled into the teapots:
Yixing - almost an unpleasant smell that reminded me strongly of Dutch maatjes..
Petr Novak - a smell like hot sand, very pleasant (Holiday!!!)
Andrzej Bero - not a very strong smell at all, more like a fresh breeze.

2nd round of comparison: drinking the cooled down water after I left it in the teapots for about 4 hours:
Yixing - A slight taste of the sheng I have been using it for in the +/- 6 months since I got it. Surprisingly the water seemed to have picked up a bit of colour as well.
Petr Novak - very fresh and clean taste. I had a mental image of a spring in sunshine.
Andrzej Bero - very clean taste here as well but somehow more crisp and full of energy. Difficult to describe, actually, but I guess that is exactly what makes this clay work so very well with the high mountain oolong.

NPE wrote:I have compared three teapots in how they influence the taste of the water: a Yixing from EoT, a bizen-esque from Petr Novak and the unglazed little kyusu from Andrzej Bero.
1st round of comparison: the smell of the hot water when filled into the teapots:
Yixing - almost an unpleasant smell that reminded me strongly of Dutch maatjes..
Petr Novak - a smell like hot sand, very pleasant (Holiday!!!)
Andrzej Bero - not a very strong smell at all, more like a fresh breeze.

2nd round of comparison: drinking the cooled down water after I left it in the teapots for about 4 hours:
Yixing - A slight taste of the sheng I have been using it for in the +/- 6 months since I got it. Surprisingly the water seemed to have picked up a bit of colour as well.
Petr Novak - very fresh and clean taste. I had a mental image of a spring in sunshine.
Andrzej Bero - very clean taste here as well but somehow more crisp and full of energy. Difficult to describe, actually, but I guess that is exactly what makes this clay work so very well with the high mountain oolong.

NPE, interesting results. Both you and TeaArt08 have reported excellent results with Andrzey Bero clay and how it interacts with tea. I guess I'll just have to get one too experience your sensation of "very clean taste ... crisp and full of energy". This weekend I was filling a couple of earthenware flower vases with water and smelled that musty clay smell that does not go well with tea. Since my Chinese yixin pot seemed to have lost it's musty smell, I decided to try it out with a high mountain oolong and it was OK although I didn't notice it enhanced or effected the taste at all. Down the line I look forward to doing a comparative test of clays like you did.

Thanks you all for your comments and pictures (realy tea art from TeaArt08). I was for some time in non virtual world canoeyng on a wild river with my family so could not join the discussion.
Very interesting observations about nacked clay and its impact on tea. 3 month ago I started a blog post about it but not finished yet (and possible never) so nice that somebody alse from user perspective wanted to do it.
thanks so much
a.
... from a first firing after my return